By Pierre Kosmidis

The First Motion Picture Unit (FMPU), later 18th Army Air Forces Base Unit, was the primary film production unit of the US Army Air Forces (USAAF) during World War II and was the first military unit made up entirely of professionals from the film industry.

It produced more than 400 propaganda and training films, which were notable for being informative as well as entertaining. Films for which the unit is known include Resisting Enemy Interrogation, Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress and The Last Bomb—all of which were released in theatres. Veteran actors such as Clark Gable, William Holden, Clayton Moore, and future President Ronald Reagan and directors such as John Sturges served with the FMPU.

The unit also produced training films and trained combat cameramen. FMPU personnel served with distinction during World War II.

After Nazi Germany surrendered in May 1945, General Arnold ordered Crump to document the extent of the damage caused by aerial bombardment.

This project was code-named “Special Film Project 186.”

Crump and his crew, using color film, surveyed bomb damage inflicted on the major European cities. In addition, Crump recorded the debriefings of Nazi civilian and military personnel in Allied custody such as Herman Goering, as well as the capture of the Ohrdruf and Buchenwald concentration camps by American soldiers.

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Upon viewing the film of the camps for the first time, Malvin Wald recollected, “Even though it was a summer day, Reagan came out shivering—we all did. We’d never seen anything like that.”

Crump and his crew shot hundreds of hours of film—most of which has never been seen.

The Army Air Force declined to fund the production and editing of the footage at an estimated cost of $1 million. The documentary The Story of Special Film Project 186 points out that the effort was “the biggest color film project of World War II—and the biggest unseen film of all time.”